Jack Britt 7. Lumberton 3.
Suggs, Robeson County’s athletic director who makes stops at a handful of games each Friday night during football season, hurried to his car during the third quarter of Fairmont’s tilt with Hobbton and headed toward Lumberton in case of the upset.
Seconds after Dyron Smith stopped Jack Britt’s Jalen McDaniel 1-yard short of the goal line in overtime for Pirates’ first win in school history over the Buccaneers last August, Suggs gleamed with a sense of pride on the sideline.
He couldn’t help but get excited after a team under his umbrella took down one of Cumberland County’s juggernauts.
“I know all of the kids that play on that team and most of the athletes in the county,” Suggs said. “If was pretty neat to see one of us beat one of them.”
Ten months into his job at the central office, Suggs, in partnership with Cumberland County Schools student activities director Leon Mack, has a chance to see all of his area’s football teams compete against their northern, often times more successful, brethren this season.
Suggs and Mack announced Friday that both counties will be combining their preseason football jamborees in August to form a two-night, southeastern region spectacle at Purnell Swett and Gray’s Creek High School.
“It’s easy for everyone involved when you don’t have to worry about finding teams for a jamboree,” Suggs said. “Trying to find teams late in the summer gives me heartburn. This is the best case scenario for both Robeson and Cumberland County.”
Fans are invited to a pair of four-hour scrimmage sessions two weeks before the opener that will include 20 schools and feature matchups normally unavailable during the regular season.
Swett has hosted the Robeson County jamboree each of the last two years and will do so again in five months, welcoming in seven out-of-county schools on August 9.
The Rams will take on Richard Bailey’s Buccaneers in the marquee finale at 8 p.m.
The previous night at Gray’s Creek, St. Pauls will take on Pine Forest, Lumberton battles the home-standing Bears and Red Springs scrimmages South View.
Other teams included in the field include Goldsboro, South Robeson, Westover, Seventy-First, Terry Sanford, Pinecrest, E.E. Smith, Hoke County, Douglas Byrd, Union Pines and Cape Fear. Defending Three Rivers Conference champion Fairmont, who is down to finalists for its head coaching job, takes on E.E. Smith at Purnell Swett.
Red Springs’ George Coltharp and Purnell Swett’s Mark Heil, two coaches with Cumberland County ties, were instrumental in bringing both sides together after being selected to the jamboree committee by Suggs.
“Any one of our coaches would’ve been great ambassadors for this, we were just asked to do it because we know kind of how stuff works up there,” Coltharp said. “The discussions and getting this together was really pretty seamless. Mark and I are good friends with (Gray’s Creek coach) David Lovette and (South View) Randy Ledford. It’s an opportunity to showcase some of the best football in the Sandhills.”
Coltharp says the opportunity for Red Devils crunching pads with South View, a 4A playoff participant in 2011, is exciting.
“Our kids have a chance to play a team they always read about in the newspaper,” Coltharp said. “It’s good exposure for tem in a game that doesn’t count on the scoreboard.”
The format is similar to most 4o-yard line scrimmages. Each session will be broken into a 10-play series with the ball returning to the 40 after a score. Each session will last approximately one hour and 20 minutes and four teams will be on the field at the same time, backs to one another.
Only three coaches from each team will be allowed on the field at the same time.
TWO RIVERS JAMBOREE SCHEDULE
August 8 at Gray’s Creek High
Pine Forest vs. St. Pauls, 5 p.m.
Cape Fear vs. Union Pines, 5 p.m.
South View vs. Red Springs, 6:30 p.m.
Douglas Byrd vs. Hoke, 6:30 p.m.
Gray’s Creek vs. Lumberton, 8 p.m.
August 9 at Swett High
Goldsboro vs. Seventy-First, 5 p.m.
South Robeson vs. Westover, 5 p.m.
Pinecrest vs. Terry Sanford, 6:30 p.m.
Fairmont vs. E.E. Smith, 6:30 p.m.
Jack Britt vs. Purnell Swett, 8 p.m.
